Mr Baggins Graffiti Hunter

-          Malta, 28th of October 2014

-          Dear friends, I am not a vandal... I like to paint small artworks in the street. Something intimate. With no public if possible, or just with someone I live. I like the sun, and Mediterranea. I am a sunday painter, because i prefer empty streets, if not ghost cities. I paint somewhere ghosts for the future, tracks from a future past for our children. I love painting in silent streets. When I paint, i am so focused that i forget everything, i forget where I am, what time is it. I almost disappear. If i could while painting i would dematerialize myself, like an hologram, or better, turn invisible. I would love to give birth to my visions and disappear by myself. I enjoy to share my artworks with others when gone, when disappeared. I am not solitary but I cannot be more happy than while painting alone in the streets. I feel then like swimming with dolphins.

CITY OF GOLD 2012 - FROM THE VAULTS

CITY OF GOLD 2011- FROM THE VAULTS

FALKO - IN SEARCH OF CHICKENMAN  

Falko, Die Man van Slaapstad, is one of the featured graffiti artists in the 2014 City of Gold Urban Arts Festival starting on 5 October 2014.

Falko has been part of the South African graffiti scene since 1988 and is a true legend and all-round nice human being. I have huge respect for him, especially for his innovative Splitpiece concept murals and “Once Upon A Town” projects

The concept of Splitpiece is to join photographs of artworks that have been created on different walls, forming one whole picture that has diverse backgrounds. The theory behind this concept is to create unity.

http://www.graffitisouthafrica.com/news/categories/splitpiece/

I’ve photographed these in the small towns of Mamre, Pella and Darling on the Cape’s West Coast where he has coloured the world for the residents of disadvantaged communities. These are amazing pieces and it is like putting a giant jigsaw puzzle together, finding one piece in Pella and another in Mamre, and then making the connection between them.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/43066879@N06/sets/72157630683302498/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/43066879@N06/sets/72157630539179614/

Nard collaborated with Falko in Darling and Rasty in Mamre and Pella.

Falko continued “Once Upon a Town” in the hamlet of Prince Albert in the Swartberg recently.

I’ve met him on numerous occasions, last in April while he was painting in Kliptown for Martha Cooper’s Soweto/Sowebo project.

Falko has a thing for chickens, NO NO, not in that way – He loves to paint ‘em and for him it is symbolic of people’s struggle of to fly the coop and escape from the poverty bubble.

The symbolism originated from the Danja Mowf song “Like Flies”

“ Some of these birds choose not to soar the sky They just stay in some shit, making them more like flies Day in and day out another one dies (I got it, another fly nigga got swatted) The time he was allotted it seems just ran out Or could it be the fact he didn't let his wings span out? Acting like a chicken scared to leave the coup Cause the chicken doesn't fly, he just stays with the group Chilling with a bunch of turkeys waiting for thanksgiving If he had of flown south he might have kept on living cause

That's the reason I keep preaching but you In denial like the owl always talking about "who?" I should call you a parrot cause you act that way First around a bunch of niggers, repeating what they say Thinking that you're fly pimping around like a peacock But your turf, your whole earth consists of only three blocks Take them key locks off of your mind Take a journey out of the ghetto just to see what you can find And like the raven said to poe and only told him "nevermore" If from your dome you never go then any more we'll never know See how some other guys live their lives, not like flies Realize your limit ain't the skies…………..”

Rasty & Falko - Once Upon a Town

Main Offender

Rasty at the first City of Gold in 2011 - Inside Revolution House where the spray fumes were close to toxic.

"Never Again" I remember Angel saying about so many writers banging walls simultaneously in an enclosed space.

Properuity was clever, a number of the works were incorporated in the redesign of the space and I wonder if the writers were ever compensated for what they've created.

FAITH47 AND DIE ANTWOORD: NEWTOWN 2014

Faith remains one of my favourite artists. She has built an international, high profile reputation for the unique and large scale murals and fine art pieces she creates. Her limited edition prints are snapped up as soon as they are released. I have most of them, including  “Mysterium Tremendum Et Fascinans” and the recently released “Will You Love Me Until The Very End” by Poster Child in Los Angeles.

 I hope these graceful swans arrive safely as the never-ending postal strikes makes safe delivery Russian roulette at present.

Earlier in the year Faith painted a piece in the derelict Johannesburg Municipal Transport building in Newtown next to the M1 that bisects Jozi’s CBD. Being a graffiti hunter I spotted Faith’s distinctive style and drips driving home one evening.

She painted a powerful Pitbull on the top floor of the building which was used in “Die Antwoord” video for the release of their album Donker Mag.

I am horrified by what Watkin Tudor Jones created as a backdrop for the “Pitbull” video on the western façade as well as inside the building. I watched him swinging like a monkey from the roof spray painting all kinds of infantile filth over the walls. This building belongs to the City and I wonder what kind of fuckery went down to allow this sort of thing to happen.

I am not a fan of Die Antwoord. They might be world famous for they’re Zef-Rap or whatever. They hang out with Rihanna, a mash-up of their song “Enter the Ninja” was used by Dior the launch of their “Addict” perfume range but they are beyond white trash as far as I am concerned.  

Some say Waddy Jones is a performance artist first and foremost. That he creates characters and inhabited them wholly. Some recons he's "pulling an Andy Kauffman" – and that all the bad rep going round is because The Ninja is supposed to be an unlikable, insufferable zef thug.

Whatever – I hate what they did in Newtown and so does many of the local graffiti writers I spoke to.

What remains is the beauty that Faith created – The Pitbull and the graceful swan trapped in a dog’s jaws.

The ever illusive Faith was interviewed by Carte Blanche recently specifically about her work in Durban’s Warwick Triangle that I still need to photograph  – here’s the link

WILL YOU STAY WITH ME, UNTIL THE VERY END?